The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 23
complaints about the game's storefront on the online
gaming platform Steam. The page included trailers, screenshots,
and text description of the game.

The complainants argued that "some of the game content was not as
depicted or described" and challenged whether the ad was
"misleading."

In response to the complaints, Hello Games explained that unlike
many other games, each users' experience is very different so it
"would be difficult to recreate exact scenes from the ad." The
game content is generated by an algorithm that determined the
probability of a player encountering a specific creature,
physiology, or one of its "18 quintillion planets" and each
player starts on their own unique planet, so the outcome of each
game is almost infinite.

Hello Games added that the ad was produced using a gaming PC
of "average specification" and the quality of the graphics shown
in the ad was "inferior" to the graphics the game was capable of
exhibiting. The company also responded to specific complaints
about the way in which "No Man's Sky's" gameplay was advertised.

It acknowledged that the user interface design and aiming system
had "undergone cosmetic changes" since the footage for the
trailers was recorded. However, the ASA stated in its ruling: "We
did not consider that these elements would affect a consumer's
decision to purchase the game, as they were superficial and
incidental components in relation to the core gameplay mechanics
and features."

The
"No Man's Sky" landing page on the Steam
store.ASA

Other complaints referred to buildings, structures, battles,
ships, and animals that appear in the footage but allegedly not
in the game — or at least looked substantially different in the
final product. However, on each occasion, the ASA found the
objects in the final game were similar enough to the advertising
and were therefore unlikely to mislead people.

Some complaints referred to the trailers and screenshots
exaggerating the quality of the in-game graphics. However, the
ASA considered that consumers would "generally be aware" that the
graphical output of the game would be affected by the
specifications of their computers.

Another complained-about issue was text in the ads that stated:
"Fly smoothly from deep space to planetary surfaces, with no
loading screens and no limits." Players took issue with the
statement because the game displays a "warp" sequence when
traveling between systems — similar to a loading screen.

The ASA took into account that the screen only displayed when
traveling between systems — not traveling from space to a
planet's surface, for example, which is more of a common
occurrence in the game — and that it didn't represent an
interruption to the gameplay experience. Again, the ASA ruled
that this was not a misleading element of "No Man's Sky's"
marketing.

The ASA concluded in its ruling:

"We understood that the screenshots and videos in the ad had been
created using game footage, and acknowledged that in doing this
the advertisers would aim to show the product in the best light.
Taking into account the above points, we considered that the
overall impression of the ad was consistent with gameplay and the
footage provided, both in terms of that captured by Hello Games
and by third parties, and that it did not exaggerate the expected
player experience of the game. We therefore concluded that the ad
did not breach the Code."